Featured Technologies   View all Featured Technologies Flow-Through Thermal-Expansion-Compensated Microcells for Analytical Transmission Infrared Spectroscopy Description of Technology: Available for licensing and commercial distribution are optical cells spectroscopically stable and can be used for spectroscopic measurement in transmission, sample reflection, back plate reflection, emission, or scattering modes. The cell allows fluid in a sample space to be exchanged without separating a front or a back plate from a spacer, allows a solid sample to be placed in or removed from the sample space, requires only a small amount of sample, and allows for different sample gaps to be easily and inexpensively set. Alternatively, the spacers can be manufactured using a hydrocarbon-resistant polymer so that samples dissolved in organic solvents can be used without the risk of changing the spectral properties of the microcell and solvent leakage from the sample space. The inventive cell and methods allow spectral measurements to be taken over wavelengths ranging at least from the mid-infrared to the vacuum ultraviolet, provide a simple path for light traveling through a sample, and allow fast kinetic processes to be detected and monitored reproducibly and sensitively. Applications: Analytics Spectroscopy Infrared spectroscopy Chemical imaging Material characterization Quality control Chemometrics in chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturing Forensic applications Tissue pathology diagnostics Inventors: Edward Mertz and James Sullivan (NICHD) Publications: Makareeva E, Mertz EL, Kuznetsova NV, Sutter MB, DeRidder AM, Cabral WA, Barnes AM, McBride DJ, Marini JC, Leikin S. Structural heterogeneity of type I collagen triple helix and its role in osteogenesis imperfecta. J Biol Chem. 2008 Feb 22;283(8):4787-4798. [PubMed abs] Mertz EL, Leikin S. Interactions of inorganic phosphate and sulfate anions with collagen. Biochemistry. 2004 Nov 30;43(47):14901-12. [PubMed abs] Patent Status: DHHS Reference No. E-096-2004/0 -- U.S. Patent 7,355,697 issued 08 Apr 2008 International Patent Application No. PCT/US2005/030218 filed 25 Aug 2005, which published as WO 2006/026342 on 09 Mar 2006 European Patent Application 05786373.9 filed 26 Aug 2005 DHHS Reference No. E-096-2004/1 -- U.S. Patent Application No. 11/826,806 filed 18 Jul 2007 Licensing Status: Available for non-exclusive or exclusive licensing. Collaborative Research Opportunity: The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Section on Physical Biochemistry is seeking statements of capability or interest from parties interested in collaborative research to further develop, evaluate, or commercialize microcells for infrared and other spectroscopies and their applications to pathology diagnostics. Please contact John D. Hewes, Ph.D. at 301-435-3121 or hewesj@mail.nih.gov for more information. Portfolios: Devices/Instrumentation - Diagnostics Devices/Instrumentation - Environmental Technology, equipment and machinery, analytical equipment Devices/Instrumentation - Research Tools and Materials, devices, chromatographic For additional information, please contact: Michael A. Shmilovich, Esq. Office of Technology Transfer National Institutes of Health 6011 Executive Boulevard, Suite 325 Rockville MD 20852 Phone: 301/435-5019 Fax: 301/402-0220 Email: shmilovm@mail.nih.gov